Blenheim Palace Archives - Richard M. Langworth

Duke — Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire.

Lady Randolph & Winston Churchill on Blenheim

15 July 2017 Comments 3 Comments

I am asked what Churchill wrote and thought about his birthplace, Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire. The first words I recall are those of his mother Jennie: “with pardonable pride.” They occur early in The Reminiscences of Lady Randolph Churchill (1908). I always loved her description. One regrets the decline of people who can write like Jennie. She ranked with Lady Diana Cooper, and I think her son’s writing talent was inherited from her.…

Nazi Banners Drape Blenheim for “Transformers” Film

27 September 2016 Comments 0 Comments

Transformers: Blenheim Palace bedizened with Nazi Swastikas? File this in the overflowing catalogue of much ado about nothing.

Blenheim Affront

On September 25th, several Churchill writers received an email: “Urgent Media Request—the Sin.” (A typo for the Sun newspaper, though ironically appropriate.)

“I’m a journalist with the Sun,” we were told by a member of their staff. “I’m working on a story in our paper tomorrow about a disgusting act which tarnishes Sir Winston Churchill’s memory.” He didn’t say what, but it was easy to guess.

The disgusting act, already blasted around via the Internet, was to drape Blenheim (“Churchill’s home” according to reports) with huge Nazi banners.…

The Duke of Marlborough 1926-2014

15 October 2015 Comments 3 Comments

The Eleventh Duke: Memories. 13 April 1926 – 16 October 2014

“You shouldn’t call him ‘Your Grace,’ you know.”

It was 2005. Lady Soames was coaching me on a letter to her cousin the Duke of Marlborough. It was to ask (again) for the lease (at a friend-of-the-family discount) of the Great Hall at Blenheim Palace. Another black tie dinner crowning another Churchill Tour.

“What should I call him, then? I can’t call him ‘Sunny,’ as you do!” (The family nickname stemmed from one of the Duke’s early titles, Earl of Sunderland.)

“Of course not. But ‘Your Grace’ is too formal, or for servants.…